Prayer of a Husband

By: Jenifer Metzger

Several years ago I spent two weeks battling a very painful headache. I don't really like taking medication but because of the intense pain I had tried several pain relievers. I used ice packs and a heating pad on my neck where the pain started. But nothing was giving me relief. Nothing. Then one Sunday, after two weeks of pain, we came home from church and the pain was so extreme I felt as though my eyes were bulging and I just couldn't take it anymore.

I went to my husband and asked him to pray for my headache to go away. He held my neck in his hands and prayed that God would take away the pain and give me relief. Within fifteen minutes my headache and neck pain was fifty percent better. And continued to get better as the evening went on.

Over those two weeks I prayed for my headache several times. God hears my prayers. My husband's prayers are not 'better' than mine. God doesn't listen to him and ignore me. God listens to all of His children when the pray to Him.

So why did God begin to relieve my pain after my husband prayed and not after I prayed?

My first response is that everything happens in God's timing, not ours. Maybe His perfect time was right then, not before. 

But even more so, I believe that God was teaching me to ask my husband for prayer. There is something so powerful when a wife prays for her husband and vice versa. We need to ask our spouse for prayer and we need to pray over our spouse.

By asking our husband to pray for us, we are:

•showing him that we respect him as the spiritual leader in our family.

•giving him the chance to be obedient by praying for others.

•creating a spiritual bond with him.

Whether we are in physical pain, struggling in a relationship, struggling in our walk with God, or tired, we need to ask our husband to pray for us. No matter what we are facing, we should seek our husband's prayers.

Discussion:
1. Do you find it difficult to ask your husband for prayer?
2. If your husband isn't far in his spiritual journey, he may not be comfortable praying out loud. Be his safe place. A place he knows that he can pray without judgement or being made fun of.